Call for government to be punished

Socialist Party launch election campaign

Socialist Party Pledge to resist Fianna Fail/Green Party Cuts Which Will Wreck Local Services. Call for FiannaFail/Greens To Be Punished For Policy Of making Ordinary People Pay For Crisis. The savage programme of cuts in public expenditure by the FiannaFail/Green Party government will have a devastating effect on local services.

The revised estimates for the Department of the Environment involving a 16% cut for 2009, mean that swingeing cutbacks are being implemented in crucial areas of local expenditure.

The savage cut of €300 million in funding for social housing construction and regeneration, as well as in affordable housing means a bleak future for the tens of thousands of individuals and families on the local authority housing lists around the country.

There will be devastating consequences for local services arising from the dictat from the Government that Local Authorities cannot replace staff who leave or retire without the permission of the Minister for Finance, and only in exceptional cases will this be allowed.

Fingal

Fingal Council’s 2009 Capital Programme could be cut by €55million following a financial directive from the government that prohibits it from using its full reserve fund of developers’ levies. It directs that “expenditure is funded from income received or due within the year”only. This means projects such as community facilities in massive new communities such as Ongar and Tyrrelstown that have none, could be stopped. All of the works in the roads, parks and other departments which have not gone to contract have been stopped.Having cut the Council’s funding already by 7% the government is now preventing Fingal from spending money already contributed by people when they bought their houses! Building workers could also be taken off the dole to do these works.

South Dublin

The South Dublin County Council area is also experiencing the effects of the government cuts.The children’s playground program is delayed due to capital budget reviews with the result that the old playground in Tymon Park will not be replaced for at least another year. The Greenhills Road re-alignment is postponed with the result that a QBC for the 77s, one of the busiest bus routes in the City is now not going to happen.These are but examples of how disruptive the cuts are going to be. It is now back to the old story of huge new communities with tens of thousands of houses and apartments without the necessary infrastructure. The crash caused by the same developers who left these communities bereft of proper services is now going to starve them of public funds that are desperately needed to make up the deficit.

Campaign Against Cuts

In the course of the Local Election Campaign, Socialist Party councillors will highlight the extent of the cuts being imposed on local services and will call for support in resisting these cuts.Socialist Party Councillors returned in the election will join with other genuine community and Left representatives to launch a campaign against these cuts and for proper funding of the local services.

Make Fianna Fail and the Greens Pay the Price

Socialist Party candidates in the Local elections are calling on the electorate to take the opportunity to severely punish Fianna nFail and the Green Party for their policies.Fatcat developers and big bankers, legislated for by Fianna Fail, raked in countless billions in profits during the construction bubble. However now that their insatiable greed has crashed the economy the FiannaFail/Green Party Government are ravaging the living standards of ordinary people to pay for the crisis. Savage punishment is being meted out to those who had no act or part in the criminal profiteering that precipitated the collapse. This programme of vicious cuts in wages and public services will only make the problem worse. Slashing the income of millions of public and private sector workers and their families means they will slash demand for goods an services and result in tens of thousands more unemployed.

Fianna Fail should be severely punished for its criminal connivance with the cabal who caused the present disaster. The Green Party should be hammered for being Fianna Fail’s doormat and accomplice.

See Election 2009 section for information on our local election candidates.